In July a huge amount of counterfeit ink and toner cartridges were seized during raids in Lima, Peru, by officers of the Peruvian National Police and representatives of the IPR holders.
Intellectual Property firm Barlaw reported in August that seizures against two ‘big fish’ manufacturers of counterfeit ink and toner cartridges took place in Lima. Officers of the Special Squad against Foreign Criminality (Peruvian National Police) raided a facility in which counterfeit HP and Epson consumables were seized. Barlaw reported that the raid was done catching the responsible people “red-handed”.
Barlaw described the action as follows: “The police members watched an opened-door of this building and how a person was carrying some black plastic bags containing seal boxes of toners. As the zone of this building is well-known as a black market of consumables, the police suspected that the goods could come from a warehouse or even a workshop of counterfeit toners and inks, which is banned as an IPR crime.
“As a consequence, the police officers followed this person up and intervened him when he was going to go into the facilities where the warehouse and workshop were. Once over there, police agents proceeded with the preliminary inspection of the facilities.”
In excess of 2,000 finished and unfinished toner and ink cartridges, tools and supplies were seized during the raid. On site, the attending representatives of the IPR holders confirmed that the operation was not authorised or licensed.
Arrests were made and the counterfeit items are now subject to an investigation to confirm that they are infringing products. Once confirmed, infringing products will be destroyed and Barlaw said that “according to the provision 222 of the Peruvian Criminal Code, infringers can be sanctioned for the commission of an Industrial Property crime, so that a custodial sentence of two until five years of imprisonment can be issued.”
